North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
Dr. Patrick Wooden Sr. pastor of the Upper Room Church of God In Christ and his wife Pamela Wooden celebrate early returns that show strong support for Amendment One during an election night party at the N. Raleigh Hilton on Tuesday May 8, 2012. (Picture and caption from the Raleigh, NC News and Observer)
North Carolina voters have overwhelmingly approved adding Amendment One to the state constitution. Amendment One bans same-sex marriage. The vote as of this evening (May 8) is about 60% in favor of the amendment.
The Raleigh, NC News and Observer is leading with the picture above, which shows why this issue poses a fascinating problem for liberal Democrats. It's difficult to claim that all those in favor of Amendment One are racist throwbacks to the KKK.
Edit: Ricochet member Tabula Rasa posted an item on this just before I did.
- Comment (115)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
Comments:
May '10
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
Fred Cole:
2. Conservatives were on the wrong side of the last great civil rights struggle too.
Marriage is not a civil right. It's a social institution pertaining to male/female sexuality—its complementarity and its procreative power.
The permanent bond of one man and one woman, who form a family, is the only sexual relationship that serves the interests of the public, and is therefore the only one that demands and deserves the recognition and protection of the state.
If the state were to declare that same sex liaisons shall be deemed the legal and moral equivalent of marriage, it would be committing an act of tyranny.
Edited on May 9, 2012 at 4:51pmNov '11
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
If white people vote against "marriage equality", that makes them bigots (according to the rhetoric I've seen, anyway). If black people vote against "marriage equality", what does that make them? Do they just need to be reeducated? Help me out with the terminology here.
May '11
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
This is not a civil rights issue. Homosexuals have as much right to marry as heterosexuals. They may only marry the opposite gender, though. I'm all for freedom. You have the freedom to do whatever you want with your body, no matter how sexually perverse. Good for the perverts. Just don't require me to support your perversion. Does anyone know the latest on the prop in California? Last I heard the state supreme court ruled their constitution was un constitutional. If the judges on the ninth circuit were the federal supreme court, does anyone doubt that they would rule a federal amendment along those lines to also be unconstitutional?
Edited on May 9, 2012 at 3:19pmNov '11
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
katievs
Fred Cole:
2. Conservatives were on the wrong side of the last great civil rights struggle too.
Marriage is not a civil right. It's a social institution pertaining to male/female sexuality: it's complementarity and its procreative power.
Marriage is a contract, and the right for individuals to contract with one another freely is the most fundamental basic human right.
The only reason government got involved in licensing marriages in the first place was for the state to be able to control who got married, under the guise of preserving traditional marriage and preventing miscegenation.
No, Katie, the tyranny is interfering in the rights of individuals.
The first step of any tyranny is interfering with the right of individuals to freely contract with one another, and they always have a justification for interfering with that basic human right (always for the "greater good of society" or the "interests of the public"). Those contracts represent a threat to the power of the state if they're allowed to be freely enacted and without state interference.
Nov '11
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
I see. So homosexuals have as much right to freely contract with one another just as long as they do it in the terms that you, a third party uninvolved, define. I'm glad that you all all for freedom.
May '11
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
A marriage is not a mere contract with two people. It is a contract that also involves the state.
Nov '11
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
Only because the state insists on it.
May '10
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
Fred Cole
Marriage is a contract, and the right for individuals to contract with one another freely is the most fundamental basic human right.
It's not a contract. Only a desiccated libertarian absolutism thinks it's reducible to a contract.
This amendment does nothing to stop two or more people from forming contracts with each other.
May '10
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
The very fact that you insist on viewing marriage as essentially a contract reveals what going on in the "gay rights" movement. It's not about allowing gays to marry; it's about abolishing marriage as a social institution by rendering it nothing more than a private contract between two individuals. Or three, or whatever. Arbitrary desire will set the terms.
Edited on May 9, 2012 at 3:35pmJan '11
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
Fred Cole
Only because the state insists on it. · 12 minutes ago
In what way does the state insist?
Applying for a marriage license is voluntary. If you do not want the state involved in your relationship, do not ask it for a license.
Nov '10
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
The only benefits of the state recognizing same sex marriage are the benefits accorded to married couples by the state. If we agree that any two individuals should be allowed to enter into this contract and so be recognized by the state, do we by necessity also agree that the contract be recognized by everyone else? Should employers be required to then treat the couple as married and offer health care to the employee's state recognized spouse? Or maybe you are arguing that the state should get out of the business of recognizing marriage contracts? In that case, there would be nothing requiring anyone to view my wife as my spouse. My point here, Fred, is that it's more than just whether the State is involved. There are many many private entities that are then required to recognize this contract, if that is ultimately what it is, if the state also recognizes it.
Jun '10
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
Fred,
Like it or not, a lot of people in America believe there was a Sodom and a Gomorrah, believe they were destroyed by God in a dramatic way, and believe that their destruction happened for a reason. Call it myth, but for many it's a cautionary tale. Thousands of years of history is hard to overturn on a political or judiciary whim.
May '10
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
A contract between two men or two women is not marriage.
To call it marriage is to lie. To legally force the public to regard it as the equivalent of marriage is radically unjust and destructive of the common good.
Dec '10
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
etoiledunord: Fred,
... that their destruction happened for a reason. Call it myth, but for many it's a cautionary tale. Thousands of years of history is hard to overturn on a political or judiciary whim. · 5 minutes ago
Describe in detail this reason please. Was it only homosexuality?
Feb '11
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
Can you make a contract with your sister? Or your father? Or with four other people?
Nov '11
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
Fred Cole: A few comments:
2. Conservatives were on the wrong side of the last great civil rights struggle too. · 3 hours ago
I don't particularly think the "right" to federally recognized gay marriage quite equates with the 60's civil rights movements - there are no segregated schools for gays, or straight-only water fountains.
Aside from any judgement against their lifestyle, I imagine some of the black opposition to the gay-rights lobby is the fact that the lobby insists that disapproving of gay marriage is just as bad as Jim Crow - an idea that many find farcical.
Nov '11
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
Private entities (which are more dynamic and functional than governments, because they respond to markets, governments do not) have been extending benefits to domestic partners for decades now.
I am one hundred percent in favor of letting private entities determine for themselves who is married to who. But that's not what most of the people here want. They want to require state sanction, so they, a third party, can veto marriages and forms they disagree with.
Nov '11
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
etoiledunord: Fred,
Like it or not, a lot of people in America believe there was a Sodom and a Gomorrah, believe they were destroyed by God in a dramatic way, and believe that their destruction happened for a reason. Call it myth, but for many it's a cautionary tale. Thousands of years of history is hard to overturn on a political or judiciary whim. · 27 minutes ago
Because a thing has thousands of years of history behind it does not make it morally valid.
Nov '11
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
Klaatu
Fred Cole
Only because the state insists on it. · 12 minutes ago
In what way does the state insist?
They insist on a license!
Jun '10
Re: North Carolina to Add Marriage Amendment to State Constitution
Foxman
etoiledunord: Fred,
... that their destruction happened for a reason. Call it myth, but for many it's a cautionary tale. Thousands of years of history is hard to overturn on a political or judiciary whim.
Describe in detailthis reason please. Was it only homosexuality?
In the common wisdom that non-theologians take into the voting booth with them, it was for homosexual acts. It may also happen to us in America, for our abortion culture, etc. We're not that superior, but we should want to be moving in the right direction--not the wrong direction.